PS 3519 
•0323 

1916 
Copy I 



SELECTIONS 



FROM 



JOHNSTONE'S POEMS 




E. F. JOHNSTONE 



SELECTIONS 

FROM 

JOHNSTQNE^S POEMS 



I 




Author of 
■'NO VERMQNTERS IN HEAVEN' 

Copyrighted by 

E. F. JOHNSTONE 



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My Mother's "Rock of Ages" 



I have heard the finest singers that America can boast, 
I have heard the best from lands beyond the sea ; 
But in memory one song to-day appeals to me the most 
' Tis my mother's " Rock of ages cleft tor me. " 

She could sing with faith and feeling anything that ofi'ered 
praise, 
Psalms of David or " My Country 'tis of thee " 
And my mind is full of pictures of my childhood's happy 
days 
And my mother's "Rock of ages cleft for me." 

In the quiet of the evening, in the morning bright and fair 
And at noon day I have heard her tuneful plea. 

And to-day while I am waiting there is music everywhere 
From my mother's "Rock of ages cleft for me. " 

In the hour of temptation I have heard the music swell 
And those words of faith have made the tempter flee : 

Ah ! my soul can understand it but my words can never tell 
How I prize her "Rock of ages cleft for me." 

Now her lips are cold and silent but her voice I still can hear 

Sweet and tender as it ever used to be; 
For a moment's meditation brings the echo soft and clear 

Of my mother's "Rock of ages cleft for me." 

She is waiting for the Master in her low and narrow bed, 

For a cheerful, faithful follower was she 
And a ceaseless benediction seems to fall upon my head 

From my mother's " Rock of ages cleft for me." 




J>Jv.4iW 



Elder Thomas H. femfea, Rutland, Vt. 



WAITING with others who have gone before 
The dawn^of resurrection morn. . VVVV/ 

When saints sh^ll gather on the other shore /j 

Where loved ones shall be parted never more — 
Where Adam's children meet— the glad new born. 

Serene and brave, unmoved by worldly care, 

Kind, social, tender, fearless, noble, good ; 

Mighty in faith, in word, in deed and prayer 

He did not fear the Masters cross to bear ; 

He was a blessing to the neighborhood. 

Ah ! yes, and far beyond for up and down 

The mountain state his faithful feet have trod 

Not seeking any perishable crown. 

Undaunted by the world's protentious frown. 

He sought to lead his fellowmen to God. 

He reached far down to help the erring rise. 

He served the Master every fleeting hour ; 



Cheerful, benevolent, awake and wise 

He used his hands and feet, his ears and eyes- 
Yea worked for God with every ransomed power. 

I know one man just balanced on the rim 

Of everlasting death, who looked around, 

And saw a faithful hand outstretched to him 

And tho his chances seemed exceeding slim 

The prodigal both peace and pardon found- 

What made him true and loving, humble, meek 
The fearless enemy of every sin ; 

What made him words of truth and comfort speak 
And wipe away the tear from many a cheek ? 

It was the Loving Christ that dwelt within. 



»Si. 



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Character. 



V/OU may wear the royal purple and a crown upon your head, 

•^ You may boast a hundred millions and control the price 

of bread, 

Men may call you rich and mighty and exalt you in the land. 

But remember in the judgment only character will stand. 

You may be a famous beauty or a singer of renown. 

You may squander twenty thousand in the purchase of 
a gown, 
Multitudes may gaze upon you and pronounce you great and 
grand, 
But remember in the judgment only character will 
stand. 

You may be a politician or an orator of note, 

Cheering thousands may applaud you as you thunder 
from your throat. 
The support of countless voters may effect the thing you 
planned. 
But remember in the judgment only character will 
stand. 

You may seek the world's approval and accept the devil's 
bribe 
Cherish greed and hate and envy like a pharisee or 
scribe 
But the scale of even Justice is in the Almighty's hand 

And remember, in the judgment only character will 
stand. 

You may preach to lordly sinners from a pulpit made of gold. 
You may tell the old, old story of the shepherd and the 
fold. 
And your eloquence and learning may a princely fee demand, 



But remember in the judgment only character will 
stand. 

You may revel in your palace where your servants meekly 
bow, 
But the years will leave their record in the wrinkles on 
your brow, 
Time will tear you from your idols, breaking every golden 
band. 
And remember in the judgment only character will 
stand. 

When the chill of death is on you, creeping upwards from 
your feet, 
When the pulse at last surrenders and the heart declines 
to beat 
With your record, just your record, you will reach the dis- 
tant strand, 
And remember in the judgment only character will 
stand. 

Record ! record ! just your record ! friends of mammon or of 
God, 
Pilgrims on the narrow pathway or the road exceeding 
broad. 
Listen ! seek ye first the kingdom and receive the Master's 
brand. 
For remember in the judgment only character will stand. 

Record ! record ! judgment ! judgment ! on we hasten to the 
throne. 
All our thoughts, our deeds, our motives, to the Judge 
supreme are known. 
We may seek the firm foundation — we may build upon the 
sand— 
But remember in the judgment only character will stand. 



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Not Willing to Go 



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E are told of a land ilfndescribably grand 



Where sorrow and pain are unknown. 
And worry and care have no stopping place there 

There is never a sigh nor a moan ; 
This land we are told is like Eden of old 

Where the tree of life ever shall grow 
'Tis a beautiful place where few of the race 

Have ever been willing to go. 

We stand by the side of the friend who has died 

And mourn that the spirit has fled ; 
When he's placed 'neath the sod we engrave "gone to God " 

In the stone that we place at his head ; 
Tho we claim to belive he has gone to receive 

The bed that our God can bestow 
We are always in doubt as to how he came out 

And we never are willing to go. 

And neighbor, I fear, that our treasure is here 

And we have grown very fond of our sin ; 
Tho we claim from afar that the gates are ajar 

I fear we may not all get in 
When trembling age sweeps our feet from the stage 

Or sickness expels at a blow 
Our friends raise the cry that we've gone to the sky 

But we never are willing to go. 

If pilgrims we roam while a beautiful home 

Awaits us with splendors untold. 
Why should grief smite the heart when we are called to de- 
part 

To that beautiful city of gold ; 



! we preach and we pray but to trust and obey 

We are often exceedingly slow, 
We sometimes declare we have friends over there 

But we never are willing to go. 

At the set of the sun we say "Gods will be done, ' 

When the world can await us no more. 
And we add with a sigh, that we're ready to die 

Then depart to the shadowy shore 
But let no one forget that we part with regret 

From the things that we worship below ; 
Of our going away we have nothing to say 

But we never are willing to go. 



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Equal Rights 



BELIEVE or doubt, be saved or darned, take or reject the 
light. 
Worship what, when, and where you will, you have a 
perfect right. 
The infidel, my Christian friend, has rights as well as you ; 
And so has the Mohammedan ; so also has the Jew. 

Conscience is free in this fair land ; and he who lifts a voice 
To worship God or God deny, proclaims his right of 
choice. 
This right is sacred, and the Lord Himself declares it so. 

Then what is man, that he against the Word of God 
should go- 
To build the thumbscrew and the rack and persecution's fire. 

To make a man a hypocrite, a martyr, or a liar— 
To make him praise, or claim to praise, against his own con- 
viction ? 
My friends, this matter is beyond all human jurisdiction. 

"Choose ye this day whom ye will serve " — yea, choose the 
good or evil ; 
'Tis ever man's God-given right, tho he may serve the 
devil. 
Tho Heaven's love may fail to win a man from sin's domin- 
ion, 
Jehovah never uses force to change a man's opinion. 

The history of the world declares religious legislation, 

Wherever found, has been a curse to every tribe and na- 
tion ; 

And yet to-day the bigot would be conscience for his brother, 
And by a civil law would force his views upon another. 



God's day of rest, His Sabbath day, the seventh from crea- 
tion, 

Some men religiously observe with praise and adoration ; 
Some men observe another day, if not by God directed. 

In either case, men's equal rights should ever be re- 
spected. 

Render to C^sar what is his, and to Jehovah render 

What He requires at thy hand, with conscience clean and 
tender. 

Thus taught the Master when on earth, the same to-day and 
ever— 
Use the compelling power of love, but use coercion never. 




Have You Noticed It? 



I__lE lay on a sick bed and swore, 
■^ ■*■ That he would be wicked no more ; 
But when he got well the terrors of hell 
Were as distant as ever before. 

Thank God for repentance sincere. 

It must not be confounded with fear ; 

I am bound to declare that our fate over there 
Depends on our conduct while here. 




Like Dad 



I'M gest uh little boy ut skool learnin ter read an rite 
An muther seys that I'm ter young ter be erway ut nite 
But when I grow er little more I'll be most awful glad 
An I'll be fit ter graduate when I kin sware like dad. 

I don't no much bout polerticks 

Cause I'm ter young ter vote 
But I kin feel er kind uo taste er coming in muh throat 

Muh muther seys that drinking stuff is very awful bad 
But I'll be gist like all the rest when I kin drink like dad. 

I sometimes git er cigarete an smoke it on ther sli 

An when muh muther smels my bref uv corse I half ter 
He 

An when I half ter fess it up muh ma shes awful sad 

But I'll hav er big long pipe when I kin smoke like dad. 

Muh dad he takes a grate big chu and sticks it in his jaw 
An chus it up and squirts out juce ther mostyer ever saw 

He says most everybudy does an it is all ther fad 
An I'll be a squirter too when I kin chu like dad. 

Fer dad he smokes and swears an chus an drinks up rum as 
well 
An when things don't go rite at home how he can kick 
an yell 
I ges my dad he ort ter no if enybudy had 

An when I grow ter be a man I'll be gist like my dad. 



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Profanity 



I '0 swear or not to swear which shall it be 
*■ Shall I employ rank profanity 
When I salute my neighbor on the street 
Or some new story to a friend repeat ? 

Shall I upon the great Jehovah call 

Like shameless ruffians at a druken brawl 

Or when I talk for business or for fun 
Shall I appeal to the anointed One ? 

Shall I so far depart from decency 

That I shall call upon the Deity 
And mix that holy name with talk obscene 
^^ O^y shall my language be correct and clean ? 

From men and boys most everywhere is heard 
An oath with nearly every other word 

'Tis prevalent indeed and growing worse 
'Tis almost fashionable now to curse. 

A habit ! yes, but one so mean and base 

That it should be despised by all the race 
What Pope has said I wish to emphasize 
"To swear" is neither brave, polite nor wise. 




As We Live 



V/OU will die as you live, let no one think 
*■ That preacher or prelate, priest or pope, 
As we balance on death's slippery brink. 

While the darkness gathers black as ink 
Can give us any other hope. 

We have the word of the living God 

So plain that the man who runs may read ; 

On the narrow way or the way that is broad. 
The servants of truth or the slaves of fraud 

We go at a varying rate of speed. 

Shall we gather the perishing things of time. 

And follow the call of greed and lust- 
Shall we fellowship with the sons of crime. 

And squander the years of our manhood's prime 
And then for the life eternal trust. 

Nay ! Lost is the man, who rejects thru life 
The pardon purchased by Calvary's Lamb ; 

And lost is the mother, sister or wife 

Who choses the ways of sin and strife 

And the death bed repentance is always a sham. 

We cannot deny the Master here 

In what we think and say and do 
And then before God's throne appear 

With calm assurance instead of fear 
And claim the reward of the clean and true. 

Lord ! Lord ! they will cry in the Judgment day 

But many will cry to no avail. 
For their feet have willingly gone astray 



And they curse the while they ought to pray ; 
They will perish with those who weep and wail. 

If the spirit of him who raised his son 
From the silent grave, in you abide, 

Then he will finish the work begun 

And you will hear the glad "well done," 

When we gather on the other side. 

But, friend, be sure as you live you will die 
For your character determines your fate ; 

And they who tell you differently lie. 
For you cannot God thru life defy 

And then dodge the guard at the golden gate. 




No Vermonters in Heaven 



T dreamed that I went to the city of gold 
* To heaven resplendant and fair ; 
And, after I entered that beautiful fold 
By one in authority there I was told 
That not a Vermonter was there. 

Impossible ! said I many from my town 

Have sought this delectable place. 
And each must be here with a harp and a crown 

A conquerors palm and a clean linen gown 
Received thru aam entc d- grace. 

The angel replied, all Vermonters come here 
When first they depart from the earth 

But after a day or a month or a year 

They restless and lonesome and homesick appear 

And sigh for the land of their birth. 

They tell of its many and beautiful hills 

Where forests majestic appear ; 
Its rivers and lakes and its streams and its rills 

Where nature the purest of water distills 
And they soon get dissatisfied here. 

They tell of ravines, wild, secluded and deep 

Of flower decked landscapes serene 
Of towering mountains, imposing and steep 

Adown which the torrents exultingly leap 
Thru forests perrenially green. 

We give them the best that the kingdom provides, 
They have everything that they want. 

But not a Vermonter in heaven abides — 
A very short period here he resides 

Then hykes him away to Vermont. 



My Brothers Sins 



T do not know my brothers sins— 
^ His failings either great or small, 
I only know that virture wins, 

And vice recedes where truth begins. 
And mercy hovers over all. 

I do not know the battle fields. 

On which he wrestles with despair- 
On which he overcomes or yields— 

Where evil smites or heaven shields. 
But God is love I will declare. 

In each heart is some good desire — 

I want to make the statement broad— 

Some spark to light a holy fire- 
God grant that it may not expire— 

And he who placed it there is God. 

Then let us not condemn a man 
Nor judge a woman anywhere. 

But rather do the best we can 

To learn and teach Jehovah's plan, 

For, only this is just and fair. 

'Tis not the good we have not done. 

That makes us righteous— me and you : 

We shall be judged — yea every one 
Born since creation was begun 

By the good that we have failed to do. 

Twas not my hand that laid him low. 

Not mine the hand that passed the cup. 

Nay ! twas not I that struck the blow. 
My brother, this may all be so 

But be it yours to help him up. 



When the Death Angel rings 



"VY/HAT wonderful things when the death angel rings 
** Are the dollars we've hoarded for years, 

Are the houses and land on this perishing strand, 
When before us the reaper appears ; 

When he comes forth to slay we have money to pay- 
To bribe him his stroke to withhold ; 

But alas ! and alack ! we cannot drive him back 
With all of our silver and gold. 

The money, we own may embelish a stone 

To point out the place where we lie, 
But cannot hold the breath in the hour of death 

Nor pilot a soul to the sky ; 
It may bury the clay with pomp and display 

And write post mortern praises galore ; 
But ruler or slave it deserts at the grave 

And bids him adieu evermore. 

Of silver and gold we have none we are told, 

Was the statement of Peter and John, 
But such as we may we will give you to-day 

Behold, your affliction is gone ; 
And the Jews were amazed as they speechlessly gazed 

On their erstwhile half parylized brother ; 
Help us Lord thru thy son not to worship the one 

And give us lord more of the other. 



>ifi 






The Form Intact 



Caster Sunday bright and fair ; 

•*— ' Go to church and thf h«ts are thei-p. 

Every shape find every size 

Squares and oval=! mef>t your eyes, 
Flowers tremble, feathers nod 

All arranft'pd for the glory of God; 
Garments gay on every side 

Surely the lord is magnified. 

Perfume fills the holy air. 

While the parson ofl^ers prayer 
And each dame begins to guess 

Where the other got her dress : 
Fashion sees her late decree 

There observed most loyally 
Saint and sinners dressed so smart 

They cannot be told apart. 

Mrs. " Haughtie " holds her head 
High to show herself well bred— 

Should she try to kneel to pray 

Half her clothes would rip away ; 

Jewels flash upon her hands- 
Costly gems from foreign lands 

Powder lingers on her skin 

Surely Christ abides within. 

Godly people now are told 

By their silver and their gold, 

By the way they fix the hair 

And the garments that they wear ; 

Poor humility is dead 



, Heart religion from us fled 
But surviving every storm 

We have still recainecl the form. 



<S>S 



Skating with the Boys and Girls 



I '0-DAY I closed my desk and went with the boys and girls 
■*■ to skate, 

There were Arthur and Charlie and Will and Ned and 
Bessie and Nance and Kate 
And many more from the neighbors 'round came down with 
their sleds galore, 
And I turned old time three decades back and I was a 
boy once more. 
I showed them some of the old time tricks with never a miss 
or fall 
And one little fellow "hollered " out "Why the old man 
licks 'email." 
Old man ! thought I, what can he mean, as I circled in child- 
ish glee. 
But when he yelled, "Good, good ole man," I knew the 
boy meant me. 

But I felt as young as the youngest there— enjoyed the fun 

as well 
And laughed as loud as the little boy when somebody 

slipped and fell ; 
And though at forty my hair is black and I need no " specs " 

to see 
I know, when that boy yelled " good old man" that that 

same boy meant me. 
Years do not make a fellow old nay, our thoughts ac- 
complish this 
And they who put all fun away, know not how much they 

miss. 
You may call it "kidish " and all of that, it suits me at 

any rate. 
And whenever I have a chance I'll go with the boys and girls 

to skate. 



My Neighbors Old Line Fence 

I 'HE time of year is drawing near 
*■ When grass begins to sprout, 
And very soon— to wit— next moon 

We'll turn our cattle out : 
And our friendship fast will ever last 

With little or no expense. 
If you'll start in now before you plough 
And fix your old line fence. 

While I suspect that gross neglect 

Keeps many fences down, 
I'll not abuse nor yet accuse 

A neighbor in the town ; 
But this I know and I can show 

And may a little hence 
Breaks not a few where cows get thru' 

My neighbors old line fence. 

My neighbor swears he'll make repairs 

And home his dairy keep. 
But many a day I chase away 

His cattle and his sheep. 
And hurl great stones to break their bones 

Despite the consequence, 
And all because he will not pause 

To fix his old line fence. 

Within my mind towards mankind 

Are thoughts of love and peace ; 
God's will be done with every one 

And let all discord cease ; 
Let friendship reign on hill and plain 

Controlled by common sense, 
I hope and pray my neighbor may 

Get out and fix his fence. 



LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 



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